A question I received: What are the three lines?

My Answer: The left line is the uncorrected desire that must first be restricted (Tzimtzum Aleph). The right line is the force of bestowal, the force of Light. And the middle line is the result of the work of combining them, connecting the two lines.

Our entire work lies in the middle line, and all of Kabbalah’s materials speak of this. The right and left lines are given to us from Above, from nature or the Creator. If we don’t work in the middle line, we remain as animals, acting by compulsion of these two reins: the right and the left lines. However, when we receive the first spark from the middle line, called the point in the heart, it is an opportunity, an invitation, to gain control over our lives, and to stop moving like a horse, maneuvered by two reins from above.

We need to assume these reins and to become “human.” The point in the heart is the beginning of the human within us that will rein his animal, and move toward similarity to the Creator. The spiritual work consists solely of driving oneself, from within the point in the heart, toward merging with everybody else.

Then we relate to all our qualities as conditions given us from Above. We no longer identify ourselves either with our body and its inherent qualities, or with the Light, given to us to correct this body. That is, we relate to these two lines, the right and the left, as perfection created by the Creator, as an invitation extended from Him to begin to build ourselves.

I no longer worry, rejoice, or get distressed over the left or the right lines, instead I relate to the states given to me as an opportunity to properly combine these two lines and move forward, driving my animal and aiming it straight to the goal.

At every moment my animal throws itself this way or that, in a direction unknown to me. And I have to imagine the goal to myself: the Creator, merging with Him, and being equal to Him in properties as much as I can imagine it to myself. I have to try see my environment as a perfect, balanced system, linked and interconnected with all parts equal and in mutual guarantee, so as to be filled by the Upper Light.

Having clarified the goal, I have to correct my animal, so as to guide it in the proper direction via the two reins. This work does not stop for even a second. Every time I imagine the spiritual goal more clearly and in greater detail, and, accordingly, in greater confusion, for light is known only from darkness. I have to always strive toward this goal, that is, to plant myself in the general system as its inseparable component.

Therefore, when I read The Zohar I need to act like a car driver, pushing the gas pedal, watching the road, steering the wheel, and feeling the brakes, all at the same time.
Similarly, when I listen to what The Zohar speaks of, I want to imagine all of it before me. As though being on a tour, I try to move along with The Zohar and participate in it.

In other words, I want to know what it is that I study, to connect to this material, to be in this process. To know is to merge, as it is written: “And Adam knew Eve (his corrected desire).”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: How is it possible that someone could use Kabbalah and the Torah egoistically? Can someone who doesn’t possess a spiritual screen and the force of bestowal draw the force of the Upper Light for his own sake? Isn’t there is a whole system of worlds and restrictions to prevent us from receiving the Light egoistically?

My Answer: If you pick up the Torah and wish to receive power from it, you will get it since you are reading the primary source related to the spiritual world. It was written by a person who was in the process of attaining the Upper World. If you use it individually, in order to fill your egoism, for the sake of your own purposes, then you are using only a miniscule amount of the force it contains.

Even still, we do see how much more egoistical it makes people when the place of the “mistress” is taken by the “handmaid.” A person not only doesn’t receive correction from it, he becomes even worse! He thinks that now he owns this world and the future one, and that he deserves a reward; he feels proud before others and considers himself a chosen one, who is above them.

It is the Torah who is doing this to him; it becomes a deadly narcotic for such person. If, however, he wishes to use the Torah correctly, he does so in the group that builds itself as a common soul, as it is written about when receiving the Torah: as one man with one heart. This is the kind of engagement the Torah is given for; otherwise, as we are warned: in it there will be the place of your (spiritual) death!

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot that if a person is engaged in the Torah (and Kabbalah) for the sake of some reward for his egoism, then it is like “a maid who inherits the mistress.” What does this mean?

There is an opportunity to draw the Surrounding Light upon oneself through engaging in the Torah. But its impact could be two-fold, depending on my intention. Instead of correction, it can make me even worse—“a handmaid who inherits her mistress.” Instead of ascending and becoming similar to the Creator, the quality of bestowal, I submerge myself deeper and deeper in egoism and love for myself.

Why are we given these opportunities? Isn’t it enough to simply study Kabbalah or the Torah? It isn’t enough to simply study; the intention defines what will become of a person. And it is the most important. It is here where the freedom of choice lies—where to switch myself under the influence of the Upper Force: downward, to the reception, toward my egoism, or upward, toward bestowal, toward the Creator?

The Torah itself (the Upper Light) is neutral—it can be either the elixir of life or the potion of death (a person doesn’t perceive that he is spiritually dead). As you decide and choose—so it will be!

It all depends on my attitude to the Upper Force—as with, for instance, the force of electricity: It can heat, and it can cool. The choice is mine. You can study Kabbalah (the Torah in general) only if from the very beginning you establish an objective to attain bestowal (Lishma). Otherwise, you should not even open the book. Naturally, everybody starts this studying egoistically (Lo Lishma), but we don’t have another choice; we were born in this egoism. Yet, we must be clear that we desire to attain bestowal. The Torah is given to us solely for this purpose: “I created the evil inclination and handed down the Torah for its correction.”

This is what we must teach first of all. This is the prime directive in the upbringing of a person: in kindergarten, school, and society. He has to understand that he is growing up in order to unite with all the others as equals, in absolutely mutual bestowal. And when, gradually, his desires become disclosed, he has to start learning Kabbalah in order for him to learn how to correct his egoistical intentions into altruistic ones. This is called to come from Lo Lishma to Lishma.

This concerns adults and children alike. Primarily, we must explain to a person that Kabbalah and the Torah are handed to us solely to change our nature. There isn’t any other purpose! Otherwise, a person will only increase his egoism with its help, wishing to receive this world and the future one for himself.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Zohar, Chapter “Tetzaveh” (Command), Item 18:  And when the light of Butzina illuminated in the letter Yod, from the part of illumination of the Yod, the three points of the Yod—Holam, Shuruk, Hirik—expanded, became two lines, and the middle line connected to them in Hirik. …Then these four points expanded and became one Heichal…. hence there are only four points in each of the two letters Hey, and not all nine, as in the Yod. This is because each has only one Behina of the Yod—one has Toch and the other Sof.

Baal HaSulam explains that the tip of the letter “Yod” which was made by the Creator “out of nothing” includes everything within it. The Light and the point “made out of nothing” constitute complete opposites; the Light is round and so is the darkness which stands opposite to it.

How does the Light, by acting within desire, generate various forms of desire? If the Light and desire stand against each other, why doesn’t the Light influence desire evenly? The secret is that the Light influences desire not as good influences evil or the Light darkness. That being the case, a small black point “Yesh Mi Ain” (existence from absence) would simply expand. Rather, the Light carries the “Thought of Creation” to please the creature; it bears the Creator’s desire to not only fulfill the creature, but to also transfer the Creator’s inner essence to it, thus making the creature similar to the Light.

In other words, the Light carries within itself two qualities that impact the “dark point.” This is why the dark point not only expands, but also develops in different directions. This gives rise to the forms which we call “letters.”
[15021]
From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Item 99
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item 45
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 31
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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, Article “Ancestral Merit”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Item 82
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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, Article: “Which Degree Should One Achieve?”
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A question I received: Why, ever since we started studying The Zohar, do we experience so many ups and downs, and why are they so strong?

My Answer: We feel these fluctuations because we are now entering the process of healing. Each time when I feel an ascent or a descent, it signifies that I have realized one more Reshimo (a spiritual record).

I don’t know how many Reshimot I have. Yet, I have to go through all of them one by one; I can’t jump over or skip any of them. I have to realize all the Reshimot on my path, moving by the chain of Reshimot from this world to the World of Infinity. And the path to the World of Infinity is the path of my connecting with other souls into a single whole so as to discover the Creator there.

For this reason all the states that I’m going through signify my realizing the Reshimot. Hence, the faster one experiences the changes, the better. Most important is to continue.

Here we have to act above reason. We need to set an exact time for the studies, for spreading Kabbalah, the group work, and unification with the friends. We should remember the goal throughout the day, and remind ourselves about it with an alarm clock or a text message. We should use all the means possible to realize some more Reshimot, one after the other. This way, “A penny after a penny adds up to a big sum.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: From what part of the spiritual world does the Light of The Zohar come down to us?

My Answer: It comes from Rosh de Arich Anpin in the form of the Surrounding Light, for the Light of The Zohar is the Light of Infinity, the upper shining. This Light does not “come to us,” but rather shines upon us “from afar” and brings us back to the Source. It shines upon us through all the worlds that reduce it, and illuminates our desires that are opposite to it.

This is not the “direct” system of connection based on the screens and the Inner Light received, whereby the Light is revealed to the measure of one’s ability to bestow. Rather, since I don’t yet have the screen, the Light acts upon me from afar, and not to the measure to which I can receive for the sake of bestowal, but in the measure I can heal myself with its help.

Sometimes a person comes to a doctor who tells him: “What can I do? You need a very strong medicine, but your body won’t be able to endure it.” It happens with older people or with people who were seriously hurt. The cure exists but one’s body is too weak to take it; it can’t digest it. It may harm a person rather than help him.

The same applies in regard to the Surrounding Light, which acts upon me only to the extent to which it can heal me, that is, to the extent that I can endure it. This is because I receive the Light, the property of bestowal, as poison, as death to my egoism.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A question I received: If only Kabbalah is necessary for the correction of the soul, why did the sages of the past create so many commentaries on the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud? How does this all help us?

My Answer: If, after several years of studying Kabbalah, you reach the correction for sake of bestowal (Lishma), you’ll be able to open the Talmud and delight in it. You’ll begin to understand all the laws described in it according to their inner essence, the science of Kabbalah. You’ll grasp what these great sages of the past wrote about.

At present, their language simply confuses you and conceals the world of the truth from you. Later, you’ll understand it all because you’ll reach the degree at which the sages wrote their commentaries. You’ll experience the same states that inspired them to write them. For you, these texts won’t be any different than the Kabbalistic articles.

Using words such as a “bull,” “donkey,” “cow,” “harm,” “Temple,” the “Great Assembly (Sanhedrin),” “fields,” and “property,” the sages expressed the process of the correction of the soul. The entire Torah speaks solely about the correction of the soul and its equivalence with the Creator; it is all names of the Creator.

When one commentator argues with another, this depicts the eternal argument between the left and the right lines, the measures of reception and bestowal, and clarifies how to combine them correctly. The Talmud explains the spiritual processes in the most precise details. Right now you are so tangled in them because you think that it’s talking about a thousand different opinions. Later, you’ll understand that this is not a thousand points of view, but a look at the same, single phenomenon that can be corrected from a thousand different angles.

These are not sages arguing between themselves, but the souls of the common system explaining to you how each quality is related to all the others, or, in other words, how each organ, an individual soul, is related to the work of the collective soul Adam.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: The chapter we’re reading in The Zohar is called "Command" (Tetzaveh). What does "command" mean in spirituality?

My Answer: This refers to the command that has been assigned to us. To join the work of the Creator, we first have to try to recognize our desire and the reason for our creation. We need to feel our state as being opposite to the Creator in order to become "creatures."

However, this isn’t enough. This is just the first recognition of one’s nature. After that, a person has to try to become similar to the Creator. Then, he’ll discover he’s incapable of doing so. When he nevertheless presses forward and strives to reach the next level of recognizing himself, he discovers that he has no desire to become similar to the Creator. Besides being opposite to the Creator and unable to become similar to Him, he doesn’t even want it.

Yet, while undergoing this process, each time a person raises the significance of the Creator, the importance of the goal, and sees his own state as low and insignificant, he continues to search until he finally realizes that there is a system of connection between the souls, and from it, he can receive additional strength. Then, he indeed will desire and be able to reveal all his opposition to the Creator, his lack of the desire, and the opportunity to become similar to Him. Along with it, he will feel a pressing need for correction, for attainment of bestowal for the Creator, which will exceed many times the one he could have reached by himself.

Then, equipped with this "heavy ammunition" which he obtained through the power of the group with the property of the mutual guarantee (within which the Creator exists as a guarantor and supports all this system), a person comes and appeals to Him. He now has something to appeal with. Before this, he couldn’t make a correct appeal.

This is the way a person reaches the influence of the Light that Reforms. He has realized his free choice and has come to the state in which the Creator grants him the strength. Then, within that Light, he begins to see what he needs to correct, as it is written, "In Your Light we will see the Light." A person begins to see the Creator’s command: to correct all his 613 uncorrected properties, one by one.

Now one understands how each property, force, and desire is corrupted, how it can be corrected, what he gains by this correction,and how he influences the entire common system.  Through the common system, the Creator is revealed. Thus, he gradually goes through the entire process of the Torah and commandments. He corrects all his desires by the intention to bestow for the sake of bestowal and even by the intention to receive for the sake of bestowal, which is not for the sake of pleasure, but rather, for the sake of the Upper One.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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